[Intern] AI Applied Researcher Internship

Join the Accenture Labs’ AI R&D Team and work on core AI Models / technology that work across multiple domains

The Opportunity

As an intern on our team, you will work at the frontier of next-generation AI systems to explore how they can become more reliable.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are powerful but overconfident — they often produce fluent, plausible, but incorrect answers. This project aims to fine-tune a compact open-source LLM (like Qwen-2-7B, Mistral-7B, or DeepSeek-6.7B) so that it can quantify its own uncertainty and explicitly say “I don’t know” when faced with unknown or ambiguous questions.

The main effort is to train the model using Evidential Deep Learning (EDL) — a technique that replaces the standard softmax-based confidence mechanism with a Dirichlet-based evidence distribution. This allows the model to represent not just what it predicts, but how certain it is.

The end goal is a “humble” AI assistant: one that maintains accuracy on known information but signals epistemic uncertainty clearly, improving reliability, interpretability, and safety.

Key Responsibilities & Impact

This role offers a unique mix of deep research and hands-on development:

Advanced Research Synthesis: Review, analyze, and strategically summarize the latest academic and industry research in technical domains (e.g., uncertainty quantification in LLMs).

Hands-on Prototype Development: Collaborate directly with Senior Research Scientists to rapidly design, build, and test PoCs.

Knowledge Mobilization: Articulate complex research findings into clear, persuasive, and publishable papers and presentations for both academic and business audiences.

Strategic Storytelling: Craft engaging narratives and technical demonstrations that translate research outcomes into clear, compelling value propositions.

Required Skills:

Master / PhD in Computer Science / AI

Area of Study: AI / ML / NLP

Strong analytical and critical thinking skills.

Good written and verbal communication abilities, with the capacity to structure presentations for maximum clarity and impact.

Ability to design experiments, compare baselines, and interpret results

Literature reading: tracking prior work on uncertainty estimation, hallucination reduction, calibration.

Primary Skill:

Strong programming skills in Python, including experience with libraries such as PyTorch (preferred), TensorFlow.

Ability to implement custom models, layers, or loss functions.

Solid understanding of supervised learning, loss functions, optimization (SGD/Adam), overfitting, regularization.

Familiarity with uncertainty estimation concepts (even at a basic level): epistemic vs. aleatoric uncertainty.

Understanding of machine learning fundamentals, including supervised learning, embeddings, evaluation metrics, and data preprocessing.

Bonus Skills (Not Required But Valuable)

Preparing datasets for uncertainty learning (ambiguous, adversarial, OOD samples).

Understanding of Dirichlet distributions, Evidence-based uncertainty models, EDL loss functions (e.g., evidential regression/classification losses).

Understanding of a specific domain (e.g., healthcare, finance) or willingness to learn one.

About Accenture

We work with one shared purpose: to deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity. Every day, more than 775,000 of us help our stakeholders continuously reinvent. Together, we drive positive change and deliver value to our clients, partners, shareholders, communities, and each other. We believe that delivering value requires innovation, and innovation thrives in an inclusive and diverse environment. We actively foster a workplace free from bias, where everyone feels a sense of belonging and is respected and empowered to do their best work. At Accenture, we see well-being holistically, supporting our people’s physical, mental, and financial health. We also provide opportunities to keep skills relevant through certifications, learning, and diverse work experiences. We’re proud to be consistently recognized as one of the World’s Best Workplaces™. Join Accenture to work at the heart of change.

Does this appeal to you? If so, we wish to hear from you.

Please advise if you have any particular requirements, so we can look into arranging reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process. You can contact us at [email protected]

What’s in it for you:

At Accenture Ireland, in addition to a competitive base salary, you will also have an extensive benefits package which includes pension, private health insurance, discounted gym membership, emergency caring facilities, and 2 days’ leave per year for charitable work of your choice! Flexible working arrangements can be discussed depending on the position.